Anyone, at any time, can face the reality of the pain-resistant opponent. Drugs, alcohol, adrenaline, and even some forms of mental illness can render many pain-reliant techniques ineffective.

In the 1970s, there were the stories of people high on cocaine or PCP ("angel dust") running on broken legs. In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu circles, it is common to see people who refuse to tap out despite the pain and damage being done to a particular limb. Those who believe in and advocate the use of specific pressure points and meridians to incapacitate others have to admit that those techniques have better success on the opponent who is adrenalized only; not adrenalized, and intoxicated on drugs and/or alcohol, and/or psychotic. They also work better on an opponent who is not moving; many of those techniques require expert precision, according to their proponents.

The same could be said of the "one strike/one kill" concept. A todome (or 'finishing technique') is more li…